Welcome to the Injury Ward!  We will be providing injury news and updates throughout the season on all of your favorite fantasy hockey players as well as the annoyingly injury prone players you painstakingly roster anyway.  Once teams settle into training camp and the puck drops on the regular season (September 29), we will be running this post twice weekly (Sunday and Wednesday), so you can stay completely up to date with the sick, injured, beleaguered, and ailing.  For now though, let's recap some of fantasy hockey's most notable and significant injury situations of the offseason and check in on the status of a few players that missed significant time in 2025-26.  Let's dive in: 

Brad Marchand, Florida Panthers – The Rat recently admitted that he had to undergo offseason surgery in last minute fashion, leaving his availability for the start of the Panther's campaign in doubt.  This injury clouds what was already a murky situation for Marchand on a stacked Florida club and now we may not know his true role on that team until we're a ways into the fantasy season.  For what it's worth, Marchand has always shown that he recovers faster than modern medicine predicts, much like super-mutant Wolverine of the X-Men, so if anything this injury may just net you a draft day discount on the 36-year-old Panther.            

Connor Bedard, Chicago Blackhawks – Bedard is expected to miss the first 15-20 games of the season after falling awkwardly on his shoulder during an on-ice training session.  Fantasy managers will have to wait until November to see if Bedard can take his game yet another step, after compiling 30 Goals, 45 Assists, and 226 Shots in 69 games played last season.  Bedard has missed at least 13 games in two of his first three seasons, and this campaign is right on track for a repeat, warranting a "band-aid boy" status across fantasy circles.  For a little consolation, however, the 21-year-old's injury occurred to his "other" shoulder, at the very least.

Seth Jarvis, Carolina Hurricanes – From one shoulder to another, category hound Seth Jarvis underwent shoulder surgery in June to repair a torn labrum and rotator cuff that has plagued him for the last couple of years.  Hockey fans were given an expected recovery window of four to six months.  With any luck, Jarvis returns in November completely refreshed and no longer nagged by his right shoulder and the 24-year-old winger nets 30 goals over the remainder of the schedule to once again lead the Canes in goals.  

Troy Terry, Anaheim Ducks – Ducks forward, Tory Terry, may miss the first month or two of the season after completing offseason hip surgery.  His projected return has him joining Anaheim around mid-to-late November, which may be just enough time for him to hit the 50-point plateau for the sixth consecutive season.  It's worth noting that Terry sat out 21 games last season and still contributed 161 shots and 57 points.  His early absence may open up a spot in the top-six for a young winger looking to make their mark, so fantasy managers should keep an eye on 2025 first round draft pick Roger McQueen.  Of course, it's entirely possible that the minutes go to veteran Alex Killorn instead, making him fantasy relevant for at least a couple of months, once again.

Filip Gustavsson, Minnesota Wild – What was already a difficult net to make sense of in Minnesota got even more complicated by a vague report that goalie Filip Gustavsson needed surgery to repair some general wear-and-tear on his hip and that that may have contributed to his diminished role down the stretch of last year.  There have been no further updates from his club on the matter, other than that Gustavsson's availability for the start of the season depends entirely on this surgery and that his timeline at this point is utterly unknown.  This is the murky waters of injury uncertainty that fantasy fungus breeds from and managers would be wise to stay clear of this swamp until clear waters are restored.  For now, ex-Edmonton Oiler Calvin Pickard is slated in as the No. 2 option behind the young phenom, Jesper Wallstedt.  

Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs – Matthews, 28, took a nasty knee-to-knee collision with Radko Gudas last March that sidelined him for the remainder of the season with a grade-3 MCL tear.  Regardless of the rumors of underlying and undisclosed ailments that he may be working through, the Maple Leafs captain underwent surgery to repair the injury to his knee and now looks to be healthy and available for the start of training camp this Fall.

Kevin Fiala, Los Angeles Kings – Fiala got tangled up with Tom Wilson playing for Team Sweden during the 2026 Winter Olympics and underwent surgery in February.  No setbacks to his recovery have been reported, so the 30-year-old winger will look to re-join the Kings for training camp.  Fiala was a point-per-game contributor from 2021-23 with two different clubs, so fantasy managers will be hoping that the Kings' hiring of new head coach Peter Laviolette will help Fiala regain his scoring touch after dipping to just 40 points in 56 games last year.

Luke Hughes, New Jersey Devils – Hughes suffered a shoulder injury that held him out of 14 games last year (and how many times have we said "Hughes" and "Shoulder Injury" in the same sentence), but looks to be fully ready for training camp in September.  The youngest Hughes bro will enter 2026-27 healthy and without contract disputes, and so will look to build off of last year's career low scoring pace of 35 points in 68 games.        

Roope Hintz, Dallas Stars – Hintz was limited to 53 games last season and mustered just 15 goals across them.  The "Ace of Spades" suffered a hamstring injury last March, but may have been able to return to the club as early as last May, had the Stars been able to make it out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs' first round.  The 29-year-old Finnish forward will be ready for training camp and will look to rejoin the Stars' top line as a dependable two-way center with goal scoring upside.    

Jared McCann, Seattle Kraken – McCann battled through several lower-body injuries last year and was ultimately shut down at the end of the season to undergo a lower-body procedure.  The Kraken's all time leader in both points (283) and goals (138) will look to resume business as usual in the season ahead.     

Thatcher Demko, Vancouver Canucks – Certified band-aid boy, Thatcher Demko, has suited up for just 43 games over the past two seasons combined, but will look to put his injury woes behind him entering the season ahead.  The 30-year-old goalie, who was once a Vezina trophy finalist, underwent major hip surgery in January to address a chronic issue that limited his lower-body mobility as well as his overall availability to his club.  Questions abound regarding what version of Thatcher Demko fantasy managers may get in 2026, but Demko appears to be progressing naturally and has been seen doing on-ice workouts this offseason.   

Jiri Kulich, Buffalo Sabres – Kulich, 22, only appeared in 12 games last year due to a serious blood clot that has since been surgically removed.  He will look to join the Sabres when training camp begins in mid-September and has a good shot at playing in Buffalo's dangerous top-six forward group. 

That's all for this week, thanks for reading!  My name is Garrett Finlay and you can follow me on X [@garrett_fi51284] and on Bluesky [@garrettfinlay.bsky.social] where I am often talking goalies and fantasy hockey.  Once training camps open, I'll be back here providing injury news and updates every Wednesday, so until then –   Happy Hockeying and good luck out there!